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BISHOP PAUL-WERNER SCHEELE,WÜRzBURg (gERmANy):

mISSION IN tHE SPIRItOf ABBOt fRANCIS PfANNER

“I want to tell you right at the beginning that I cannot offer you

anything which you don’t know already.” These words were said

more than fifty years ago here in the Pius Seminary. No less a person

than Fr. Bernard Huss spoke them to his confreres when he returned

for the first time from South Africa to Europe in 1930. He, no doubt,

belongs to those whose life and work was influenced most by Abbot

Pfanner’s spirit. But what about one who dares to speak about

“mission in the spirit of Abbot Pfanner” before such a distinguished

audience, and does not belong to Mariannhill? Certainly only

someone who is presumptuous can do that, unless he can rely on

the assistance of some “special helper.”

I want to say two things to this. In spite of my red sash, I do not

belong to the community of those who, “in the spirit of their founder,

Abbot Francis Pfanner, …commit themselves to the service of the

mission mandate of the Church.” On the other hand, as bishop of

Würburg I can say that the Mariannhillers belong to us and we to

them. After all, the oldest Mariannhill Mission Office in Germany was

established in our diocese in the 19th century. Members of

Mariannhill Monastery found their first living quarters in the diocese

at 10 Reibeltsgasse, Würzburg, back in 1891. Since then many

Mariannhillers have prepared themselves among us for their mission

work. Others have actively supported the missions. Besides that,

many Mariannhillers have worked in our diocese as missionaries. For

that I say a hearty “May God reward you” in the name of innumerable

people. Please accept this my contribution to your feast as a modest

gesture of thanks. On the other hand, I frankly admit that I can,

indeed, rely upon a helper of a special class, namely Abbot Francis

Pfanner himself! His spirit has been kept alive, thanks to the effort of

many. We can grasp this spirit in his words and works and, what is

more, we can and should let ourselves be inspired by it, for mission

in the spirit of Pfanner is not only for members of Mariannhill. All

members of the Church are missionaries by their baptism. Rightly

did the Second Vatican Council state “The pilgrim Church is

missionary by her very nature (i.e. sent as herald on the way.) Every

Christian must ask himself/herself: “How have I fulfilled so far my

missionary obligation? How will I fulfill it in the future? What am I to

do, Lord? (Acts 22:10)” Abbot Francis can help us with this

examination of conscience, this necessary orientation and this new

start.

His impulses are the more important as many have never understood

their missionary charge or have forgotten it long ago, if they have not

betrayed it outright. Even many of those who have committed

themselves to missionary service full-time, run the risk of losing sight

of it. Some are beset by the question whether in today’s world other

activities are not more important than the specific service of the

missionary. It is in the spirit of your founder, no doubt, to look at

things as they are, see what must be done and to draw the proper

consequences. In saying this, we have put our finger on Abbot

Francis’ first characteristic:

1. tHE SPIRIt Of KNOWLEdgE

Mission work in the spirit of Abbot Pfanner demands, above all, an

intensive effort to gain comprehensive knowledge. It is worth

considering that in the prophecy of Isaiah, among the various gifts of

the spirit, mostly those are mentioned which belong to the proper

understanding of reality. The prophet speaks of the “spirit of wisdom

and insight,” as well as of the “spirit of counsel and knowledge”

(Is 11:2). Only after these gifts have become effective in us, can we

help others effectively. Typical of the way Abbot Francis permitted

himself to be led by the spirit of knowledge is the first sermon to his

confreres shortly after their arrival in Africa (31 July 1880 in

Dunbrody). It shows that he knew his confreres, their worries, their

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needs, and their hope. At the same time, it clearly shows how sober-

mindedly he judged the situation. He did not silently pass over the

fact that together they had literally come into a “land of thorns.” He

knew how much trouble and even pain thorns can cause. They

penetrate the skin and get into the shoes, so one “could go mad.”

Yet, Abbot Francis considers even the thorns in the light of God. He

dares to tell his confreres, “The thorny cacti too and the thorn

bushes are works of God …and he takes delight in his works.” What

is to others a cause of despair, is for him a help to the knowledge of

God. He said, that cacti are “the most eloquent proof against the

view of those who think that creatures are first and foremost for the

benefit of man. In the case of the hairy and gnarled cacti even the

most daring gourmet must admit, that they are hardly for eating,

but… God delights in them and may his glory be forever.”

In this perspective, a first answer to the question “why mission?” is:

“Primarily for the glorification of God!” Whatever one may think of

the usefulness and success of its individual activities, mission is first

of all for the greater glory of God. His word is proclaimed, his will is

done, his kingdom is spread. Its motto is, according to Abbot

Pfanner: ‘Sit gloria Domini in aeternum’ (Glory be to the Lord forever),

He will delight in his works, in our plantations and in the black

children who, even after we ennoble them, remain his work.” Even if,

in a certain situation, the eye beholds only a “land of thorns” as the

fruit of missionary effort, this still has its meaning and blessing.

That is anything but pious, empty promises. It is an appeal for

energetic commitment. Abbot Francis proved that a hundred times.

Perhaps the most striking thing about him is the boundless energy

with which he set to work.

2. tHE SPIRIt Of StRENgtH

There is no end to our amazement when we call to mind what Fr.

Francis accomplished in his home country, in the Balkans and in

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South Africa. Healthy in body and soul, he worked full steam all his

life. He knew no leisurely pace. He was a “runner in God’s stadium.”

His motto was the Apostle’s stirring call: “Run so as to win the prize”

(1 Cor 9:24). it corresponds to the Greek word “euthys” (“at once”) in

St. Mark. Mark uses it forty-nine times in the shortest of the four

Gospels, while it occurs only once in St. Luke. This happens “at

once,” that “at once”. The whole South African Mission of the

Mariannhillers was due to a sudden decision. In 1879, when, at the

Trappists’ General Chapter in Septfons, there was a cry for help from

South Africa and none of the Abbots present was ready to comply

with it, Prior Pfanner said without hesitation, “If nobody will go, I will!

So it happened. He went, no, he ran! At once! He acted; as he

formulated it on another occasion, “Fast like the wind. Quick as a

flash of lightning. Faster than steam!” It is not by chance that the

metaphor of steam appears repeatedly in his writings. Even to the

Cardinal Prefect in Rome he writes: “When everything is done by

steam, should we missionaries do everything leisurely?” Among his

personal belongings there was a paper in which Pfanner speaks

about the drawbacks of his fast actions. He says, “I was often too

fiery and so energetic that, if I had to create the world, I would

certainly have wanted to do it in one day instead of seven, and thus

would have had an argument with God himself.” True, his

doubtfulness about his fast pace doesn’t last long. As if in the same

breath he continues, “but now steam has in the meantime become

important in the world. People travel by steam and work with steam.

Why shouldn’t monasteries be built like steam, and mission work

done like steam. – Yes, I think now is the time that one should think

in terms of steam and even sleep like steam.” That’s him all over: a

hotspur, a torch bearer, a firebrand. He describes himself when he

literally fires his companions on. “Each one of us and every sister

must be a good torch or good fuel so that the fire may blaze up and

the flames spread fast and forcefully”.

Abbot Pfanner was not spared the experience that fire is also painful.

He was willing to accept that. He was courageous from his early

youth. He was resolutely determined to pursue the recognized goal,

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even if the road leads through darkness and danger. Let us recall

once more his talk in Dunbrody, the “land of thorns.” His unshakable

and unchangeable resolution was: “I shall never leave this piece of

land, shall never leave South Africa. I will live and die here.” To

exclude any misunderstanding, he added, “This my clearly and

unreservedly stated intention is the bridge, as it were, which I tear

down or burn behind me, so that I will never be able to turn back.”

Uncompromisingly he confronts his companions with the decision

he demands of each and every one of them, “Whoever does not

have the courage to stay here for the rest of his life, whoever feels

that this land has too many thorns and the cacti too many spines

should say so, and we will put him on the train tomorrow so that he

may return to the fleshpots of Egypt, or at least to the onions of

Bosnia.” The way an extremely difficult alternative is presented here

with a subtle smile, brings to mind a further characteristic of Abbot

Pfanner’s spirituality.

3. SPIRIt Of HOPE

Like all great missionaries, Pfanner was a genius of hope. “As to

hope, I declare…, that it is great, even invincible.” He trusts in the

Lord, the beginning and goal of all mission. He trusts in his help and

that of the saints. In view of one of his daring plans he can frankly

write: “It is almost insolence. I permit myself to be called insolent,

but after many years of experience I have come to the practice of

asking everything of St. Joseph and of expecting everything from

him. For 19 years I have been doing the greatest business with the

carpenter of Nazareth.” Again that joy and deep sense of humour

come to the fore, which make Abbot Francis so likable. He is indeed

a joyful messenger of the Good News. He is convinced that a

Christian owes to God and to men the gift of joy. “We must joyfully

and courageously work ourselves through all difficulties because

God loves a cheerful giver.” Regarding the indigenous population he

writes: “Nothing can be accomplished with the Africans by gloom,

harshness and a sad and surly attitude. The spirit which I want my

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sisters to have is friendliness and joyfulness. Africans love joy.”

Abbot Francis knows that such joy cannot be “put on” or practiced.

One can only receive it. Ultimately it grows from an inner relationship

with Christ. Therefore he encourages his followers, “to grieve with

Christ is good, but it is not all. Christ himself said to the women:

‘Weep not for me!’ To be joyful with Jesus, however, means to have

conquered with him over his enemies, means to believe and hope

firmly in him and love him deeply.” This conviction corresponds with

the observation of a sister who experienced him in his old age. Sr.

Angela wrote: “He was never sad and always had a good sense of

humour. Our Venerable Father drew this strength from meditating the

Stations of the Cross.” A joy of this kind is not a matter of sunny

nature. It is, like love, a fruit of the Holy Spirit according to the word

of the Apostle, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness (Gal 5:22).” The living centre of Pfanner’s

spirituality comes to the fore in this word of St. Paul. It is the spirit of

love.

4. tHE SPIRIt Of LOvE

Pfanner was moved, from beginning to end, by the love of God,

which must be received and passed on. “The kindness and love of

God (Titus 3:4)” which appeared in Christ wants to become visible

and effective anew in his own. That is accomplished not in mystical

exuberance, but in keen and constant service. “Let us love God, my

brothers, with all our strength and in the sweat of our brow!” This

appeal of St. Vincent de Paul signifies Abbot Pfanner’s spirit. He

makes a sincere effort to acquire love “that is real and active.”

(1 John 3:18). This love is above all for the poor and needy. “After the

example of Christ, the Gospel must first be preached to the poor.”

Abbot Pfanner sees in this a “mark of the true Church of God.”

“Where the Church takes good care of the poor, there is Catholic

life.” It is natural for Pfanner that the Gospel of Jesus is not only to

be preached by words. The Good News of the mercy of God aims at

incarnation in deeds of mercy. Preaching and active help must go

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hand in hand. Just as the Gospel it is a matter of the salvation of the

world and not only of the application of grace to this or that elect

person, so must love not be confined to individual charitable help. It

must do justice to the community character and the universality of

the New Testament message as well as to the manifold needs and

the variety of positive human possibilities. In harmony with this

categorical imperative of Christian love, Abbot Francis and his

companions had a truly comprehensive apostolate in mind. As

Thomas Merton put it, it was “an apostolate of work, prayer, the

liturgy and the plow.” “Laborem exercens,” the encyclical

commemorating the 90th anniversary of “Rerum novarum” of Pope

Leo XIII, characterizes the personal life style of Pfanner as well as his

specific social programme. It would be worthwhile to show in detail

how much of what Pope John Paul II writes about the dignity and

meaning of human work, is found in the life and work of Abbot

Pfanner. It caused astonishment in the Balkans that the “great

gospodin” himself was constantly active. He wrote, “Often some

Turk comes out to us from the city and, surprised, his first question

is, ‘I ti radis?’ (You too work?) He thinks that a master of such a

beautiful house should only sit in its grand rooms and give audience

like a great pasha. That gives me a fine chance and a good starting-

point to explain to him the dignity of work”. At that time already he

had formulated the principle which marked his engagement in South

Africa. “If we make these people industrious, we will have educated

them and thoroughly changed them for the better.” Through work not

only is something produced, but man himself learns new things and

acquires another quality of life. To say it in the words of our Holy

Father, “Work is good for man, for his being human – because by

work he not only changes nature and adapts it to his needs, but,

being realized himself as man, he becomes, ‘more human’ so to

speak.” Analogously, work is for the monks and the sisters

absolutely essential to life. Therefore Abbot Francis, in his

regulations for the mission stations, lays down the following: “No

missionary, no priest, not even a superior should consider manual

work as too unimportant and low, or even degrading for him. In this

regard, a Catholic priest is literally a follower of Christ who first

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worked… To become all things to all men, with St. Paul, we must

even become workmen.”

Besides good example, it is part of missionary help to transmit

“know-how” by work. “The apostolate of work” and the “apostolate

of the plow” are necessary. Fr. Bernard Huss acted in the spirit of

Pfanner when he proclaimed the motto “Better fields, better homes,

better hearts.” The same holds for his four W’s and the four H’s

“Willing workers work wonders.” The four H’s that are important are:

“Head, hand, health and heart.”

The apostolate that challenges and at the same time advances the

whole person decisively, that tries to do justice to the whole reality

and its aspirations, indicates to us another fundamental structure of

Pfanner’s missionary spirituality.

5. tHE SPIRIt Of CAtHOLICIty

Missionwork must be done “wholistically.” The whole Gospel must

be handed on with the whole Church to the whole world and the

whole person. This demands much from the missionary. The more

versatile he is, the better. “There are institutes of formation in which

only spiritual things are taught. Little attention is given to physical

and material things. If such a, ‘theologian’ comes to the missions, he

can do nothing with his theology until some uneducated person

builds him a hut. That delays mission work. The learned man cannot

cut down a tree, provide the cook with firewood, or even milk a cow.

I wish he had stayed another year in the European house of studies

and had studied how to use an axe and milk a cow. In short, versatile

people are the most useful”. Beyond the visible advantages,

apostolic mandate demands of one to become all things to all

people. Whatever the talents and limitations of the individual person

may be, a total commitment is required of everyone. Mission means

totality. Abbot Pfanner made this clear at an investiture ceremony on

the feast of St. Francis. Since Mariannhill was founded exactly 700

years after the birth of the “Poverello,” and we celebrate a double

jubilee in this year 1982, we have two reasons to consider the

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references of the founder. He says, “St. Francis converted many

more by the sermon of his conduct and good example than by his

preaching. There were many preachers of the word, even good and

forceful ones, before and after St. Francis, but they did not convert

anybody. The example of St. Francis, however, has changed the

whole world. God has sent us too to preach by our example here in

Africa.”

Abbot Francis, like St. Francis, was Catholic through and through.

The sufferings which the Church caused him lessened in no way his

unreserved loyalty to the Church. He bows to the decisions of the

ecclesial authority, even when it becomes extremely difficult.

However, he is not afraid to voice his conviction. He freely speaks it,

just as freely as he puts himself totally at the service of the Church.

Even if he speaks hard of Protestants and Orthodox people

occasionally, neither his way of thinking nor his actions limit

themselves to the Catholic Church. He opens the cultural and social

facilities of Mariannhill to everybody. “We make no distinction as to

colour or religion. All boys in our institutions get room, board and

education without any distinction, whether they be pagan,

Protestant of Mohammedan.” He was not out proselytizing. He made

it expressly a rule that “Whoever does not want to come to Catholic

instructions or divine service, will be given something else to do

during that time if he is of another denomination.” What seems

obvious to us was criticized at the time from within and from without.

Yet Pfanner stuck to this programme, which was at the same time

Catholic, ecumenical and humane. The Anglican Bishop of Zululand,

visiting Mariannhill, said when he left, “If only we were united.”

Pfanner agreed, saying: “That would be very good.” Particularly the

situation in the mission can bring home to us how much the scandal

of division hinders the credible proclamation of the Gospel. The

mission mandate especially demands of us a definite ecumenical

commitment. With Vatican II we must stress that “through the

necessity of the missions all faithful are called to be united in one

flock, and thus be able to bear a common witness to Christ, their

Lord, before all the people.”

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It was indisputable for Abbot Francis that Christ’s mission concerns

the whole Church. Concisely and clearly he declares: “Our mission

territory is part of the Kingdom of Christ, and that has no limits.” To

the argument whether it was prudent to aspire to something that

could not be reached, he answered. “We should have a very

generous desire, although we can never fulfill it. It must be our

greatest wish to convert the whole world, although we will never

have the strength to do so.” Thus speaks a faith that relies

completely upon the will of the Lord. Here we touch upon the root of

Pfanner’s spirituality.

6. tHE SPIRIt Of fAItH

Whoever takes a look at the striking head of Pfanner, is reminded of

the patriarchs of the Old Testament. This is no mere coincidence.

Abbot Francis is intellectually and spiritually in a special way “of

Abraham’s race” (Acts 13:26). As Abraham followed God’s call to

distant lands, so did Pfanner. He said his “Yes” of faith and lived it.

In faith he entrusted himself to the incomprehensibly great, distant

and at the same time near God. In the “ninth lesson” for overly pious

sisters, he summarizes the experience of his life as follows: “Here on

earth we are not made to contemplate God, but to serve him.

Contemplation of God will follow in heaven after we have served him

enough here. Therefore, sisters, don’t try to fly before you have

sprouted wings!” His fundamental advice, therefore is, “One must

abandon oneself to the will of God, must wish only what he expects

of us at the moment. One must entrust oneself to the Saviour out of

love, in order to please him.” Jesus Christ “leads us in our faith and

brings it to perfection” (Hebr 12:2). From him comes “the spirit of

faith” (2 Cor 4:13), to him it is and remains indebted. Pfanner, who

usually passes over the greatest mysteries in silence, once, in a

Sacred-Heart-sermon, very forcefully stated how concretely faith is

union with Christ for him. “Our whole duty is to enter the Heart of

Jesus, and, through it, enter heaven.” This is the source of his faith

and life, and of his missionary work. He continues: “We run after the

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black people for the same reason, i.e. to show them the way to the

Sacred Heart, and, through it, bring them to heaven. For the same

reason we endure so much, work hard, suffer all sorts of hardship,

get rid of all created things; all in order to find surer access to the

Sacred Heart.” Like the Apostle of the Gentiles, Abbot Francis is not

only familiar with the following of Christ, but also with life “in Christ.”

Through this living in Christ he receives the strength that is nothing

less than the spirit of sanctity. As much as this spirit surpasses the

possibility of normal human existence, so much does it belong to the

mission mandate and its fulfillment.

7. tHE SPIRIt Of SANCtIty

The humble and simple piety of Abbot Francis must not blind us to

the fact of its depth and extent. Its roots not only reach down to an

abyss; they come from the ultimate source of all being and transmit

tremendous energies. In faith, Abbot Francis is seized by the mystery

of the everpresent God, and in prayer he contemplates it. It is a short

formula of his spirituality and at the same time a solid and practical

rule of life which he gives us when he says: “Let us place ourselves

in the presence of God and say: My God, I believe that you are really

here present. You hear me, you see me. Speak, Lord, your servant is

listening!” The Christian, when praying, should know that “we need

not, like the servants of idols, cry loud or travel far. He is not only to

be found in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerazin, as some thought, but

he is always with us. He is in us and we in him.” These words remind

us of the great mission sermon of Paul in Athens: “In him we live, and

move, and exist (Acts 17:28).” The real man of prayer enters this

reality on his knees, lives by it, draws from it grace upon grace for

passing on to others. The word is true: “As much as you grow in the

spirit of prayer, so much do you grow in the love of God.”

How much Abbot Francis’ love increased, is seen by his willingness

to make sacrifices. He knows what he is talking about when he says:

“If we had more faith, hope and love, we would rejoice in the bitter

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things of life.” His suspension from service and the last years at

Emaus were extremely severe trials. Fr. Francis had the strength to

write to Bro. Nivard, his close collaborator: “Today is the Feast of the

Finding of the True Cross, and I too have found a precious particle of

the cross. I will embrace and kiss it and let myself be drawn up to

the Father in heaven by it.” It is like a summary of his conviction and

also of his missionary commitment when, at Emaus, he erects the

Stations of the Cross on a neighboring rocky slope. With great effort,

being 68 years old now, he cuts step after step into the hard rock.

Day after day, as long as he can, he climbs these steps. In the school

of the Cross he learns to make sacrifices as an individual. He is ready

to make the total sacrifice. Thus he goes to meet death. Fr. Alois

Becker wrote: “Abbot Francis never complained during his illness

and died peacefully. ‘Light’ was his last word.” We owe to him a lot

of light. We have just considered some of it. It illuminates the mission

mandate which we have all received.

To work in the spirit of Abbot Pfanner means:

to be open for the spirit of knowledge,

to work in the spirit of fortitude,

to be happy in the spirit of hope,

to be animated by the spirit of love,

to be big-hearted in the spirit of Catholicity,

to be loyal in the spirit of faith,

to be willing to make sacrifices in the spirit of sanctity.

Let us neither fail to see, nor forget that all this is not reserved for

some mission experts or particularly pious people. It concerns all of

us, every single one of us, everyone personally, everyone totally. Let

us ask the Lord that he may give us and our world a truly new

Pentecost, a missionary renewal in the Holy Spirit.

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ARCHBISHOP dENIS HURLEy, dURBAN:

ABBOt fRANCIS PfANNER ANd tHE “BIgBANg” Of mISSIONARy ExPANSION

One of the extraordinary aspects of the personality of the founder of

Mariannhill, Abbot Franz Pfanner, is that from the moment he

accepted to come to South Africa to make a Trappist missionary

foundation he seems to have known precisely what he wanted to do.

He seems to have had no need to investigate, to study and to

experiment. His missionary policy was clear from the start. In one

way this was an advantage. On the other hand, he missed the fun of

the meetings we have today: the consultations, the workshops and

the seminars.

It had been the idea of Bishop Ricards, Vicar Apostolic of the Eastern

Districts of the Cape Province, now the Diocese of Port Elizabeth,

that the Trappist approach might be the answer, or at least one of the

answers, to the question of how to set about planting the Catholic

Church among the black people of South Africa. The Trappist

approach combines an intense spiritual life of prayer, silence and

self-denial with the realistic approach to material self-sufficiency

based on hard work: cultivation of the soil and exercise of all other

appropriate arts and crafts.

The Trappists owe the basics of their tradition to the spiritual genius

of Benedict of Nursia who, at the beginning of the 6th century in the

midst of a crumbling Roman civilisation, laid the foundation of a new

culture inspired by Christian values when he established a monastic

tradition based on “ora et labora,” pray and work. It was Europe’s

good fortune to be evangelised by men who believed that work and

prayer were equally important in the service of God and his people.

That tradition was brought to South Africa by the clear-headed,

strongminded, dynamic, impulsive, decisive, no-nonsense apostolic

monk, a born leader and organiser, Franz Pfanner.

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At the invitation of Bishop Ricards, the first foundation was made at

Dunbrody in August 1880 but things did not work out too well and

by agreement between all the parties concerned the Trappists

moved to Natal two years later and settled at Mariannhill in

December 1882. Father Franz Pfanner at this time was 57 years of

age.

For the next ten years until his resignation in 1892 Father Franz, who

became Abbot in 1885, led his Trappist priests and brothers in what

must have been one of the most explosively creative missionary

beginnings in all the history of the Church. Scientists have a theory

that an important episode in the early stages of the universe was a

cosmic explosion that blew billions of galaxies into an ever-

extending occupation of space. This explosion is known as the “Big

Bang.” As far as creativity goes Abbot Franz seems to have

anticipated the theory of the Big Bang by about 50 years.

The Dunbrody Trappists were already in Natal when Father Franz got

back from a trip in Europe. They were waiting on the Bluff. Within

days of his return he had arranged matters with Bishop Jolivet,

bought the land that was to become Mariannhill and lodged his

community there. In the next four years buildings went up,

agriculture was established and a variety of trades and activities

promoted. By 1886 Abbot Franz was probably thinking that things

were going too slow and that he was spending far too much time in

one place. In the next four years he opened nine new missions:

Reichenau, Einsiedeln, Mariathal, Oetting, a place called Loretto

near Pinetown, Kevelaer, Lourdes, Maria Ratschitz. He also took

over St. Michael’s from the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. It was an

incredible rate of expansion.

It was made possible by Abbot Franz’s genius for leadership and

organisation. Joy Brain writes of him: “Perhaps there has never been

in modern times a Christian leader who in so short a time could

attract so many followers willing to leave well established

monasteries and parishes in Europe to work in the African missions.”

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As regards personnel, the original community of Trappist priests and

brothers who came to Mariannhill in 1882 numbered 30. It was

already no mean achievement for Father Franz to have mobilised 30

monks for the South African mission from the time he had responded

in 1879 to Bishop Ricards’ appeal. Seven years later in 1889 the

number of monks was 182 and there were well over 100 Sisters and

because the Big Bang went on reverberating after Abbot Franz’s

resignation the number of monks had reached 285 in 1898 and

Mariannhill had become the largest abbey in the world both in

numbers and extension. By the time Abbot Franz died in 1909 the

extension included ten further major missions stretching from

Himmelberg in Natal down to Mariazell in what was then known as

East Griqualand.

This dramatic expansion in monastic personnel and missionary

centers was matched by an almost ferociousness of energy on other

aspects of Abbot Franz’s work: the raising of funds, the promotion of

publicity, the concern for literature, research and culture generally,

the founding of the Precious Blood Sisters, the recruiting of lay

mission helpers, the establishment of schools, the elaboration of an

educational policy with proportionate emphasis on the academic

and the practical and equal regard for Black and White, the fostering

of local vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, not to

mention the enjoyment (and I say enjoyment deliberately) of

ceaseless polemic in the columns of newspapers over the Abbot’s

missionary and educational policies. As Abbot Franz has anticipated

the theory of the Big Bang he was also far in advance of the rest of

his Church and, for that matter, the rest of the Christianity of his time

in his missionary vision.

As I mentioned in the opening sentence of this talk, one of the extra-

ordinary aspects of his personality is that from the time he accepted

to come to South Africa he seems to have known precisely what he

wanted to do. It was a case of instant missiology, an intuition of

genius, the sudden illumination of a mind totally and utterly

dedicated to Christ and his Church and the people for whom Christ

– 15 –

died. The monk who has dedicated his life to contemplation but who

had given ample evidence of his electrifying creativity at Maria Wald

in Germany, at Tre Fontane in Rome and at Maria Stern in Bosnia,

now gave full vent to this electrifying creativity in setting up

Mariannhill and its network of daughter missions.

Totally absorbed in tasks that must have given enormous fulfillment

to his dynamic nature and deep love of Christ, he seems to have

overlooked one thing. Perhaps he did not. Perhaps he had this thing

fully under consideration, intending to relate it as soon as possible to

what was developing in the first ten years of Mariannhill. Those

better acquainted with the story of Abbot Franz would know. But to

those less knowledgeable it would appear that the thing he

overlooked was how to reconcile his missionary vision with the

Trappist rule of life – two splendid values, two great and magnificent

ideals, but basically incompatible.

So the disaster of 1892 came: The suspension of Abbot Franz from

abbatial functions, followed by his resignation – in one sense a

disaster like Calvary, in another sense a triumph like Easter Sunday,

the triumph of a great Christian soul who accepted his removal from

office and dynamically creative work with exemplary obedience and

humility and retired to Emaus to live out seventeen years of prayer,

self-denial and humble service of God and his people. Why such

things happen in the history of God’s people is an eternal puzzle. It

has long been my contention that after the Last Judgment, time

should be allowed for questions from the floor.

But let us not anticipate the Last Judgment. We are here to celebrate

the centenary of the foundation of Mariannhill, the establishment of

one of the most enlightened missionary traditions of the Church of

the last century and one of the greatest enrichments of the Church

in Southern Africa.

Dear Fathers and Brothers of Mariannhill and dear Sisters of the

Precious Blood, as my reverend predecessor welcomed your great

– 16 –

founder to Natal, let me as Archbishop of Durban and President of

the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference welcome you

into the second century of your work, determined as you are to be

wise stewards of your tradition, to be prudent and generous

householders drawing out of your treasure things old and new: old

because they belong to the vision of your founder, new because they

relate to the changing circumstances of our times and contribute to

the building up of the faith and the promotion of a Christ-inspired

social vision and culture in Southern Africa.

– 17 –

PAUL tHEmBA mNgOmA, BISHOP Of mARIANNHILL:

PAStORAL LEttER ON tHE CENtENARyOf mARIANNHILL

(slightly abridged)

PREAmBLE

This pastoral letter has been written just a few days before

Christmas (1982). As is usual at Christmas, people send each other

Christmas cards with all kinds of wishes. From the many cards that

I have received, I would like to single out two. The reason for doing

so is very simple, namely, the message therein has struck me very

much. … Let me hasten to quote from these cards which were

handwritten: “May He, the Light of the People, help you to

strengthen the people in hope for a new future, a new Centenary of

Mariannhill.” The other card read: “May the Light who came into the

world for all, help you in a special way to be fruitful in implementing

the motto of your important service.” … These cards filled my

thoughts as I started writing this Pastoral Letter. I have no doubt that

you will immediately see the implications of these cards since they

speak for themselves.

INtROdUCtION

Let me first of all explain why I chose this motto: Lumen gentibus –

Light for the People. The reason is quite simple. The founder of

Mariannhill, Abbot Francis Pfanner, died with a burning candle in his

hand and that was on Monday the 24th of May, 1909 at two o’clock

in the morning. But above all, the last word he uttered before he died

was “Light”. … To me, the last word of the Abbot, was a summary of

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what he had achieved in implanting faith amongst the people and I

do not hesitate to say that he was “Light for the People”. This will be

better elaborated in the paragraphs that will follow in this Pastoral

Letter.

HIStORICAL BACKgROUNd

… The year 1879 proved to be a remarkable year for the history of

Mariannhill. It was the year for the General Chapter of the Trappists.

Bishop Ricards had heard of the Trappists’ performance especially

with regard to teaching crafts and agriculture in Algeria… He

therefore invited them to do similar work at Dunbrody, forty miles

north of Port Elizabeth. This created a tension within the Trappists

who were attending the General Chapter. The courageous Prior

Francis, in that dead silence, immediately burst out and said: “If no

one else will go, I will”. Bishop Ricards had reason to ask for

Trappists. Firstly, he was dissatisfied with the method of the

Protestants who attempted to combine literacy with conversion, as

a condition for Bible reading, and which seemed to him to detribalize

the person without giving him any new social background. Secondly,

he felt that some separation from the tribal life with its rigid customs,

apparently impossible to combine with Christianity (polygamy,

initiations, ancestor cult through chiefs etc), was needed. … Finally,

some negotiations were made.

Bishop Ricards admired Abbot Francis’ initiative tremendously.

“I believe that Francis is a man in a million. He needs no architects,

he knows every kind of work, he is a man of iron, the toughest of all

and as simple as a child”. So, the Trappists sailed on the 1st of July,

1880, and reached Port Elizabeth on the 28th of July, 1880. As time

went on, Dunbrody proved unsatisfactory and Bishop Ricards and

the Abbot did not agree. So, the monks moved on to a property

about sixteen miles north of Durban with the permission of Bishop

Jolivet of Natal, and arrived at their destination on Christmas in 1882.

– 19 –

NAmE Of tHE NEW PLACE

Discussions were held about the name of the new foundation. After

a long silence, Abbot Francis declared: „Mary Anne Hill shall be its

name.“ He thought, all monasteries should be built to the glory of the

Mother of God. He added St. Anne, who as the grandmother of the

Lord should be greatly honoured. The word ‘Hill’ indicated that the

new Monastery should originally stand on a lofty height. … The

number of monks increased rapidly, from thirty to nearly three

hundred. … Right from the start Abbot Francis realised the need for

schools for the Africans. He established such as early as 1884 at

Mariannhill. In all this, let us keep the word “Light” in mind, as I

mentioned it at the beginning of this Pastoral Letter. Abbot Francis,

as a man ahead of his time, wanted to meet the demands of the local

people. Therefore, he established contact with them and the pagans,

who came for services. This shows us how deeply imbued he was

with true missionary spirit.

mISSIONARy ExPANSION

In 1886 the Trappists founded a second mission which they called

Reichenau, in the Pholela district. The Abbot compared it to the

ancient Reichenau on the Rhine River where the barbarous

Alemanians and Bavarians lived and were converted by the monks

of that Monastery in times long ago…

It was near Reichenau that St. Peter’s Seminary was later

established. This Seminary produced more than a hundred priests

coming from all corners of South Africa. … From the Mariannhill

families have come Bishops, Priests, Brothers and Sisters,

Catechists and committed Lay People. This affirms my statement

made earlier on that Abbot Francis was “Light for the People”.

Many other mission stations were founded in the early days, e.g.

Einsiedeln, Mariathal, Oetting, Kevelaer, Loretto, Lourdes, Rankweil

and Ratschitz. That is why I have entitled this subheading

“Missionary Expansion”. I am not here referring to the buildings so

– 20 –

much, but to the implantation of the faith among the people. This

was Evangelisation in the true sense of the word.

In 1885 Abbot Francis Pfanner founded the Precious Blood Sisters

to help in the work of the missions. By 1900 there were already three

hundred of them at work among the people; and 285 Trappists, over

two hundred of them were Brothers.

A striking feature in the Abbot’s life was that he always managed to

get the laity involved in the work of his mission, a breakthrough in

those days, whereas it has taken the Church a long time to come to

grips with it. It was only after the Second Vatican Council that people

started seriously to think of the importance of the layman in the work

of the Church.

By 1892 great difficulties were encountered relating to monastic life

which obliged the monks to spend long hours of prayer and observe

strict austerities in community life. These things were incompatible

with mission work spread over large distances. The solution to these

problems was not easy for the Abbot; he had to endure quite a

number of difficulties, but he followed the saying: “Perseverance is

the mother of success.”

dEvELOPmENt

Abbot Francis resigned from his office and withdrew to Emaus

Mission… He was succeeded by Fr. Amandus Schölzig who was

consecrated as the second Abbot of Mariannhill by Bishop Jolivet on

25 April 1894. Abbot Amandus also founded several mission

stations, like Maria Trost, Clairvaux, Citeaux, St. Bernard and

Maryhelp, but he died already in January 1900. His successor as

third Abbot of Mariannhill was Fr. Gerard Wolpert whose

consecration took place on 2 October of the same year. Two days

later, Abbot Francis Pfanner celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a

priest.

– 21 –

In 1909, shortly before the death of its founder, a decision was made

for Mariannhill to cease being a Trappist Monastery and to become

a Missionary Congregation with an adapted rule. Hence they were

called the “Congregation of the Missionaries of Mariannhill”. These

are the missionaries who have kept the Diocese of Mariannhill going

up to now and are still active… They have dedicated their whole life

time to the growth and development of the Church among us.

Hence, Mariannhill has grown immensely during the last hundred

years. These missionaries have kept the spirit of their Founder. They

deserve their due, and it would be a grave oversight on my side if I

were to ignore their missionary zeal. They ought to be thanked

tremendously, those who have passed away and those who are still

active in the Missions. I am not thanking the priests only, but also the

Brothers and the Sisters who have contributed such a great deal to

this diocese by their various skills.

ImPORtANt CONtRIBUtIONS Of mARIANNHILL

The basic idea of the missionary method of the early Trappists was

the formation of mission stations. Each station had a large farm

which made the mission self-supporting through the work of the

Brothers. From the early beginnings each station ran schools, and

later some of them had also High Schools. The best of these were at

Mariannhill itself and also at Mariazell. Their men, trained in

agriculture and the crafts, were everywhere sought for as officials

and demonstrators.

It is good to note that before the turn of the century, four secular

African priests, brought up on the Mariannhill mission stations, were

trained in Rome. Among the first black children who came to school

at Mariannhill itself, was Eduard Mnganga. He was sent to Rome by

Abbot Francis Pfanner and ordained priest already in the 19th cent.

i.e. in 1898. In 1894 two other students for the priesthood were sent

to Rome by Abbot Amandus; those were Alois Mncwadi and Charles

Mbengane. Fr. Alois was ordained in 1903, but Mbengane got ill

whilst he was still a student and died in Würzburg. The next to be

– 22 –

ordained in Rome were Fr. Julius Mbhele and Fr. Andreas Ngidi, in

1907.

Then there was a gap in training Africans for the priesthood… Bishop

Fleischer founded St. Mary’s Seminary and also two religious

Congregations. All the African priests who were to work in the

Mariannhill missions, were at first to be members of the F.F.J. Only

two out of ten of the first group of priests coming from St. Mary’s

Seminary were Diocesan. It was only after some years, when the

Major Seminary moved from St. Mary’s to become St. Peter’s that

more Diocesan priests were trained.

To appreciate the pioneering work of Mariannhill in the training of

priests, it is interesting to note that until 1928 there was no Seminary

in South Africa for the whites, except for the Mariannhillers.

Vocations were sent overseas for their training…

We are still on the contributions Mariannhill made to the Church and

to South Africa. Two Mariannhill Scholars, Fr. A.T. Bryant and Fr. W.

Wanger wrote the most exhaustive dictionary and grammer of the

Zulu language, and Fr. Bryant the best early history of the Zulu

people. St. Francis College at Mariannhill was one of the most

successful schools in South Africa and produced men and women of

great calibre. The first African University lecturer and poet, Dr. B.W.

Vilakazi, is one of its sons. Fr. Bernard Huss will ever be remembered

for organising the African people into the C.A.O. and his books on

Agriculture and Psychology and other social subjects had a great

influence. I cannot go on enumerating all kinds of people Mariannhill

has produced. Historical facts speak for themselves.

CONCLUSION

… Our Founder never gave up, but was persistent in prayer – hence

today we see the fruits of his perseverance. Even in a world that is

baffled by political struggles, he spoke his mind. May I just quote the

Abbot: “I cannot bear discrimination between races of men, as if

– 23 –

God valued them according to the colour of their skin. I believe I

learned to become sensitive about his when I was a child”. He was

saying this because his schoolmates used to tease him about his red

hair. “I should like to get rid of these differences completely”. This

was a very strong statement from a man of that time.

Our basic question should be: “What is the future going to be in our

Diocese?” We have seen the past, now we must look to the future

and this is the whole exercise of the centenary. For me it is not a

question so much of saying we have produced so many priests and

nuns or bishops. That is secondary, but here and now, the question

is: How are we preparing for the future and how do we do this? This

is my basic worry every day and it should be your worry too, either

as religious or laymen.

… Lastly, I wish you all God’s blessings, also those who spent time

in making research about Francis Pfanner’s work. May Christ keep

us united in love, prayer and in faith. But above all, may this

centenary be a time of penance, renewal and dedication to our

Blessed Lady and to St. Anne.

– 24 –